Raid on Balun
The brief but catastrophic Raid on Balun was a pivotal event that occurred late in the Gamilas-Earth War. By launching the raid, the battleship Yamato was able to use the Aquarius gate network to take months and tens of thousands of light years of travel off its mission to save the planet Earth. Yamato also wiped out a large fraction of the Great Gamilas Empire military fleet with the near total destruction of the Aquarius network hub at Balun, and cut the empire off from some of its farthest territories. Prelude During Yamato's brief stay at Beemela 4, a landing party discovered stellar charts that included information on a network of subspace gates linking the Milky Way Galaxy and the Large Magellanic Cloud. For the Yamato crew, already behind schedule in their voyage to the planet Iscandar, the Aquarius gate network offered a chance to travel far faster than conventional warp flight, and a life-or-death difference for their dying homeworld ("Alternative Futures"). However, the ancient alien network was currently under the control of the Great Gamilas Empire. Approaching and activating the nearest gate proved relatively easy ("Out of the Forest of Memories"). Travel through the network, though, requires passage through the network hub in orbit of the gas giant Balun, which the empire has fortified into one of its most heavily defended facilities. Admiral Juzo Okita ordered a reconnaissance mission to the hub, sending Ensign Hiroki Shinohara to fly a captured Gamilas fighter. At Balun, Shinohara came upon a military presence beyond his expectations: ten thousand enemy warships of almost every class and strength. The armada massing at Balun had been assembled by Field Marshall Herm Zoellik in the wake of a political crisis. Leader Abelt Dessler had been assassinated, leaving a power vacuum ("The Point of No Return"). Zoellik, the architect of the plot against Dessler, was moving to rally the support of the military in his bid to become the next ruler of the empire. With Major General Gremdt Goer and other officers standing behind him, Zoellik announced the death of Dessler from the bridge of his super dreadnought flagship. Feigning grief and promising to wipe out the "criminals" within the government who were hiding Dessler's death, Zoellik began his appeal to lead the empire into a new era. At that moment, an annoyed Zoellik was interrupted by a report of an alien vessel coming through one of the gates. The Raid Seconds later, Yamato emerges from the gate, accelerates toward the Gamilas fleet, and begins firing shock cannon rounds and torpedoes at any ship in its path or making a threatening move. With the ships in tight formation for the naval review, most are incapable of responding without crashing into their own comrades or destroying them in friendly fire. Zoellik, blinded by the opportunity to prove his leadership in battle, ignores the obvious danger and commands the fleet to "surround and crush" the intruder in honor of Dessler, even countermanding General Goer's panicked instruction to separate their forces. Despite the difficulties, a small number of cruisers finally manages to break formation and maneuver close enough to inflict minor damage on Yamato's port side as it nears Balun. The planet's gravity captures Yamato and it falls below the thick clouds, appearing to sink. Zoellik's triumph is short-lived as an unexpectedly familiar voice addresses him from the communication system, and Abelt Dessler appears on the bridge's main viewscreen, alive and well. From the UX-01 submarine hiding in subspace, Dessler explains how we was able to learn of Zoellik's assassination plot and plant a body double in his place. Zoellik frantically tries to salvage support from the gathered Gamilas forces before Goer shoots him in the back, killing the man. Goer, now the senior officer aboard Zoellik's flagship, is informed that Yamato is rising from the planet's equator, having navigated underneath Balun's cloud cover to the far side. As the Earth ship races toward the gate leading to the Large Magellanic Cloud, Okita orders it to turn one hundred eighty degrees and charge its wave motion gun. The pursuing Gamilas weapons fire draws closer to Yamato, but not before the wave motion gun reaches full capacity. The wave motion beam lashes out between the Gamilas vessels, along the exact line of Yamato's course and into Balun itself, striking the energetic core of the planet. Crucial seconds pass before Goer realizes what is happening. Okita disables the gravity anchor on the wave motion engine, and the sudden recoil of the wave motion gun sends Yamato hurtling through the gate. In the very next second, the gate explodes. Goer desperately tries to pull the armada away as Balun's core overloads in a massive blast that obliterates thousands of warships ("Over the Black Light"). Aftermath Balun survives the explosion of its energy core, but the modifications made to the planet long ago by the gate builders are undone. Its energy output fades, the distorted ovoid shape of Balun returns to a natural sphere, and the planet is pushed off its axial tilt. Except for the galactic theater gate leading to the Milky Way on the far side of Balun, the Aquarius hub is obliterated. Any ship entering one of the distant network gates would be unable to transit through the hub, rendering the network all but useless ("The Forever War"). Yamato exits the network to the welcome sight of the Large Magellanic Cloud looming before them. More than a hundred thousand light years from home, the crew safely arrives on the doorstep of Iscandar, more optimistic about the mission than ever ("Over the Black Light"). General Goer takes command of three thousand surviving vessels and starts the months-long trip across the intergalactic void to Gamilas ("The Star That Is Our Destination"). With Goer's fleet away and the loss of seven thousand ships at Balun, the empire scrambles to confront Yamato, now seen as the empire's gravest threat. Dessler recognizes his limited options and turns once more to a general languishing in a Gamilas jail for help ("They're Here"). Gallery Category:Battle